Magic select Aaron Gordon and acquire Elfrid Payton via trade

About the only person who wasn't shocked the Orlando Magic used the fourth pick in Thursday's NBA Draft to pick Arizona forward Aaron Gordon was Gordon himself.

Gordon learned the Magic were going to select him shortly before Adam Silver stepped to the podium to make the announcement.

"I have confidence in myself, and I have confidence in my work ethic," Gordon said. "But just the anxiety of being picked [was substantial]. My agent, Calvin Andrews, had told me 10 minutes before, and I almost lost it. I almost lost it. It was a huge, huge stress relief. My heart was pounding."

In selecting Gordon, the Magic passed up drafting Australian point guard Danté Exum, Oklahoma State point guard Marcus Smart and Indiana power forward Noah Vonleh.

"As we went through the process," Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said, "there were quite a few things that stood out about [Aaron] that we really grew to like: mainly his competitiveness, his desire to want to play team basketball and to truly try to impact the game in a variety of ways. Just his penchant to compete, his toughness, his athleticism as well were all things that we feel are good building blocks or good ingredients for him to develop into a good player."

About an hour after the Magic selected Gordon, the team acquired the draft rights to Louisiana-Lafayette point guard Elfrid Payton, who had been selected 10th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.

To obtain Payton from the Sixers, the Magic drafted Croatian forward Dario Saric 12th overall and traded away Saric's draft rights, a 2015 second-round pick and a 2017 first-round pick — the same pick the Magic had received from the Sixers in the Dwight Howard trade two years ago. (That first-round pick the Magic gave away wasn't worth as much to the Magic as a typical first-round pick would've been worth; it already was heavily protected in Philadelphia's favor to prevent the Magic from receiving a top-flight lottery pick.)

"The draft's a fluid thing," Hennigan responded when asked why he included a protected first-round pick in the deal to land Payton.

"Elfrid going into the draft was someone that we had targeted if we could get him. We love his toughness. We love his competitiveness. We love his desire to want to play defense and want to compete at that end of the floor."

Gordon and Payton are considered versatile defensive players, but each of them possesses the same Achilles' heel: problems hitting mid-range and long-range jumpers and problems sinking free throws.

Payton, 20, likely will be Orlando's point guard of the future.

"It's amazing to be an Orlando Magic: It was one of the teams I felt was a great fit, and I love the front office," Payton said. "Words can't even explain it. Hard work pays off."

Gordon, who won't turn 19 until September, possesses superb leaping ability and has a knack for rim-rattling dunks. He averaged 12.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during his lone season at Arizona, but he made only 42.2 percent of his free-throw attempts.

Many fans attending the Magic's draft party at Amway Center responded to Gordon's selection by booing.

Some league scouts and executives worry that Gordon is a tweener. He measured 6-feet-8¾ in sneakers and 220 pounds at last month's combine, and his lack of bulk left some talent evaluators wondering if he can guard NBA power forwards. His deficiencies as a shooter raised questions whether he can be a small forward.

Payton, who is 6-feet-4 and 185 pounds, joined the Under-19 U.S. national team for the age group's world championships in Prague last summer.

Payton started all nine of the Americans' games, and the team, which also included Gordon, won the gold medal.

As a junior this past season, he averaged 19.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 3.6 turnovers per game as he led the Ragin' Cajuns to the Sun Belt Conference tournament title. But he sank only 25.9 percent of his 3-point tries and just 60.9 percent of his free-throw attempts.

"I'm going to try my best to prove the reasons why they wanted me and have a great career in Orlando," Payton said.